Christophe Lemaitre 9.98 First White Man To Run Sub 10 Seconds

The lone white man running 100 meters in under 10 seconds. 70 blacks and one white are in the select group of Athletes that run 100 meters in under 10 seconds. Even on the European Championship, he is the only white guy!

Maybe he could be the first white man in decades to qualify for the 100 meter finals? Maybe the races are not equal? Or are whites and Asians just disadvantaged and discriminated in running? See some politically correct attempts to explain away the obvious:

Nearly all the sprinters who have beaten the 10-second barrier are of West African descent (with the exceptions of Australian runner Patrick Johnson, French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre and Namibian Frankie Fredericks).[4][5][6] No sprinter of predominantly Asian or East African descent had officially achieved this feat[7][8][9][10], though unofficially the Polish Marian Woronin surpassed the barrier with a time of 9.992 seconds[11], until French athlete Christophe Lemaitre ran in 9.98 on July 9, 2010[12]. Colin Jackson (a mixed race athlete and former world record holder in the 110 metre hurdles)[13] noted that both his parents were talented athletes and suggested that biological inheritance was the greatest influence, rather than any perceived racial factor. Furthermore, successful black role models in track events may reinforce the racial disparity.[8] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-second_barrier

A misunderstanding: some people argue that the fact that there is one guy among 70 blacks is proof that the races are equal. Nobody argues that the races are totally different, it is the famous bell curve: there is a small difference in the mean, and a large difference at the extreme ends at the Bell curve. Just as there are no white top 10 world championship 100 meter runners, there are no black Math or Physics Nobel Prize winners.

Also very funny: those black racists, who gleefully defend black superiority in 100 meter running, are not aware that by the same logic and theory (see Rushton, below) Blacks are less intelligent and more prone to crime.

More articles on Race on Human-Stupidity.com. Rushton asserts that research shows blacks to have more testosterone and more fast twitch muscles. According to Rushton’s racial theories, r-selected populations excel in short time mating strategies, where fighting and running skills are advantagous while k-selection favors more social organisation and long term planning.

[Rushton] asserts that Negroids use a strategy more toward an r-selected strategy (produce more offspring, but provide less care for them) while Mongoloids use the K strategy most (produce fewer offspring but provide more care for them), with Caucasoids exhibiting intermediate tendencies in this area.

He further asserts that Caucasoids evolved more toward a K-selected breeding strategy than Negroids because of the harsher and colder weather encountered in Europe, while the same held true to a greater extent for Mongoloids. Rushton argues that the survival challenges of making warm clothes, building durable shelter, preserving food, and strategically hunting large animals all selected genes for greater intelligence and social organization among the populations that migrated to cold climates. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race,_Evolution,_and_Behavior

32 Comments

Bootlegger says:

Like or Dislike: 01

The question is correct, but misinterpreted. All “races” are not equal, some are shorter and some are longer than others, some are on smooth tracks and others up and down hills.

Rushton is a pseudo-scientist and a first-order racialist. I’m sure the Caucasoid’s evolved intelligence is what makes them such fast middle-distance runners and so good on bicycles at the Tour de France.

admin says:

Like or Dislike: 10

Dear Bootlegger: the bicycling comment is interesting. My personal hunch is that the bicycle racing issue is cultural. I suspect that Kenian marathon runners would have great chances in professional bicycling if they ever started large scale promotion of long distance bicycle races.

Bootlegger, do you have any other data where you can point out a 70 to 1 advantage in favor of one race? I suppose not.

Now Rushton does 2 things: a) he simply compiles facts, like results of surveys on intelligence, running capacities, fast twitch muscles, testosterone levels by race, etc. b) Rushton’s theory of r and K selection makes a plausible connection between the survey results. Intelligence and running are not directly connected, but via the short time e vs. long time mating strategies. If Rushton’s theory were wrong, the facts still remain

Jack says:

Like or Dislike: 10

Sub-saharan Blacks have an average 70 iq. Look it up, the research was done by a guy named Richard Lynn. He also shows that Blacks best average iq is only 85, once you give them a nice, white environment to grow up in. You blacks can have the running, though M. Lemaitre seems pretty fast even compared to the other never-built-a-civilization Blacks running beside him, and us Whites will take the problem solving and civilization building abilities.

angela says:

Like or Dislike: 02

Whites will take the problem solving and civilization building abilities? Yeah, like how they have solved Iraq and Afghanistan for how long now?

The idea that blacks are more prone to crime is laughable. Jim Crow Lynching, the Tulsa Race Riot, the Holocaust, the Crusades, the Vikings, the Roman empire, The Macedonian Empire, the African slave trade, World Wars I and II, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the stolen land and near genocide of the Native Americans…so on and so forth.

White people, particularly the British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch, sailed all over the world spreading diseases (first unintentionally, then intentionally) that decimated populations wherever they went – especially in the western hemisphere.

As for “never built a civilization” BS, go look up Great Zimbabwe for example.

admin says:

@Angela: All this is statistic. Its effect is reasonably strong, but you cannot say anything like all Whites are intelligent and non-criminal. It is just a tendency.

I remember a Brazilian Girl in Germany. She said: “all are white here, you cannot even know who the robbers and criminals are”

It seems that Blacks had their share of wars, with their neighbors. They just did not have the technology and planning to invade other continents. At least nowadays, Africa is constantly engulfed in smaller wars and civil wars.
But again, I am not a history expert to give you definite answers.

Basically, you cannot refute the vast amount of research quoted by Rushton with some anecdotal evidence, with stories. Scientific research needs scientific argument and scientific research as refutation.

AB says:

Like or Dislike: 01

Again I suggest that one reads the book “Genius Explained” by Michael J.A. Howe.There is a problem with equating running,which is a fairly simple act,with intelligence,which is fairly complex.It could be that people of west African origin have a slight muscle advantage.Similarly,it is possible that people of European or east-Asians have slight working-memory advantage.But intelligence as a whole is still far more complicated than that.And there are various computer programs that can score 160+ in an IQ test.So that alone questions the credibility of IQ as a valid concept.

Rushton is not a credible scientist at all.He has all kinds of political agenda behind his research.Richard Feynman used to dislike these kind of social sciences as these are largely pseudo-sciences.Watch up Feynman’s interviews or google up “cargo-cult science”.Flynn too has studies that show that blacks are actually closing in on whites in IQ terms.

And Jack,when blacks are given early intellectual stimulation they do score around 100.The problem is these stimulations usually last only a few months-not enough to maintain it in adulthood.The living standard and literacy of the average american blacks is far lower than the average white. And remember envoironment =/= experience.Ultimately it is the person’s experience that has the effect,not environment.

admin says:

Like or Dislike: 10

@AB The point about running is that it shows that race is not skin deep. It shows that races are different, in some aspects. In that case, the African races are superior in running ability. Not extremely superior, but at the extreme end of the “Bell Curve” a clear difference can be found.

Most of anthropoligical crap (sorry for being blunt) does not even deserve that term “cargo cult”. It is non science. Anti Science. Like saying “race does not exist” or is only skin deep.

Or is Rushton lying that any forensic specialist can tell the race of a person from a single bone, or at least from some bones?

Did you read Rushton? He does and cites hundreds of serious studies. Very rarely does any of his opponents try to discredit his studies with facts and studies. I think Nisbett is about the only one.

Maybe Rushton gets help from slightly dubious societies (but it seems these are maligned unjustly). But he is unjustly persecuted, and which “normal” association will fund his research? His research is being repressed by all means, not disproven by serious objective science.

Read some of the free literature cited in other race and intelligence posts on this site.

By the way, I am aware that I have so many taboo topics, and rarely someone agrees on all. I see you agree on other taboo topics of mine, let us focus on that.

AB says:

Like or Dislike: 11

OK I will try to stick to other topics,if that is what you desire.However,I will try to explain my point this time.

First of all I hate censorship and I agree that whatever happened to Jim Watson is wrong.
However,just because a research is politically incorrect,it doesn’t make it scientifically correct.In fact,the results of this study are quite popular,from what I can see,despite being PC.

Most geneticists will tell you that a simple classification of races based on skin colour is meaningless.Have you seen a population-genetics lecture?Yes,genetic branching does exist according to geography,but a simple black and white notion of race is utterly false.In Africa alone they have the world’s tallest tribe,as well as the shortest tribe.

Rushton and Lynn cited many studies.That’s true.But why I call it cargo-cult science is because they never bothered to double-check those.Some other people did double check some of those studies and found some massive holes.For example they published the IQ of aborigines as around 60.It came from a single of study of few subjects who were seeking treatment for mental retardation.You call that science?Rushton is also hell-bent on certain assumptions.For example he claims that IQ is completely upto genes and nutrition.There is absolutely no evidence for such a claim.(IQ correlates highly to literacy and lack-of -microbial-diseases).He is concluding too many things from his largely unverified data based on all kinds of unproven assumptions.In general,he tries to appeal more to common-sense than to reasoning.That is precisely what cargo-cult science is.There are all kinds of over-simplifications involved.

Genes do not determine complex behaviours in such a simple one-to-one way.There is no single gene for ‘sense of humor’,for example.Genes and environment interact highly to produce results.There are also epigenetic factors involved.

Secondly,I don’t get what a study of average has to do with a indivual performances.Only 70 people in the history have run faster than Lemaitre.The vast majotioty of blacks can’t even come close to match lemaitre.Lemaitre,on the other hand,is merely 0.4 seconds shy of bolt.That’s a pretty small amount and only 25 years ago would be a world record.May be one of the reason for this gap is that too many whites are going to other skillful sports?And may be the same applies to blacks and IQ?

And I can’t see how a study of AVERAGES is going to help someone.I can see, however,many ways in which harm can come due to people with nasty political agendas and due to stereotyping.I am a very strong believer in individual merit and a strong hater of stereotyping.I believe in kindness,empathy ,tolerance, forgiveness,freedom and privacy.

To me whites trying to bring “dumb” blacks on track is a bit similar to feminists trying to bring “evil” men on track.Being a man myself,I would find it very insulting to suggest that I am evil because men on the average commit more crimes,statistically.

AB says:

AB says:

Like or Dislike: 00

Oh and 1 last thing ,while a lot of people make a lot of noise about brain-size,some people think that the biggest advantage that human beings have is not the large brain,but an opposable appendage(thumbs) and the highly developed vocal track to communicate.Both are indirectly possible because we walking up straight.

Remember,whales and dolphins have larger brains than us.Chimps and bonobos,actually surprise us in certain tests of originality,despite having much smaller brains .

Taki says:

Like or Dislike: 11

And there are various computer programs that can score 160+ in an IQ test
And who built that computer and wrote the program?
Another thing, most of ther so called “blacks” in the US are actually mixed breeds which explains their higher IQ.

admin says:

you’ve probably got more chance of winning the lottery next Saturday than a white man has of even making it to the final. The last time that a white athlete participated in an Olympic 100m final, Jimmy Carter was still in the White House. And the last time a white athlete held the 100m world record, Khrushchev was ensconced in the Kremlin. Over the past decade, the 10 second mark in the 100m has been broken 200 times – but not once by a white athlete. Nor is it just at the 100m that whites are so noticeably absent. Every men’s world record at every commonly-run track distance from 100m to the marathon now belongs to a runner of African descent.

Nor is there any respite for white sportsmen away from the Olympics. In 1950, the American Basketball Association was almost entirely white. Today it is 80 per cent black; among the stars the figure rises to 95 per cent. Sixty per cent of American footballers are black. France won the football World Cup and Euro 2000 with a team in which more than a third of the players were black. In boxing, the two world heavyweight champions – Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield – are black; there is not a single serious white contender for their crowns.

Very interesting. Even though a couple of white Ukrainians won heavywheight championships, the black superiority in running aind fighting sports is clearly demonstrated.

The top 60 times in the 3000m steeple chase are all held by Kenyan athletes, who also hold more than half the top times at 5000 and 10,000 metres. Kenyan men have won the world cross-country championship every year since 1986. At the Boston marathon, often considered the world’s premier event, Kenyan men have not lost since 1990.
Very interesting. But then, Malik needs to somehow find an argument to satisfy political correctnessAccording to Entine, East Africans are naturally superior at endurance sports, West Africans at sprinting and jumping, and ‘whites fall somewhere in the middle’. But if East and West Africans are at either end of a genetic spectrum of athletic abilities why consider them to be part of a single race, and one that is distinct from whites?

Without studying the literature, I still am pretty confident, that East and West Africans are genetically closer then they are to Japanese, Russians. Not just in skin color.

madmax says:

These are the European championship, so having 6 Blacks and 2 Whites still does not quite represent the racial distribution in Europe. One of the two was the topic of the post, Christophe Lemaitre.

We posted the complete world ranking list. So one single race does not disprove the world ranking list. It seems Europe has so few strong runners (lack of Blacks?) that one finalist is not even in the top 100 of the world.

You are also welcome to check Olympic finals and semifinals which are almost always devoid of other races then Black.

mickeymccoy says:

Like or Dislike: 31

Angela,
“whites” as you call them created the greatest civilizations in human history. Not to mention the industrial revolution and the tech revolution. Yes, violence is inherent ALL human races. If the “whites” didn’t come to america the natives would still be in the stone age. Also you most likely don’t know that there was plenty of disease here in America before “whites” got here. Something else inherent to all races. “Whites” spawned the renaissance leading to the use of effective medicines. You mention the African slave trade, slaves have been bought and sold sine the time of the egyptian empire(african). yet it was “whites” that abolish the trade. So before you go hating “whites” do a little research.

Kevin Sproul says:

Like or Dislike: 00

Every Kindergarten in Jamaica has an annual sports day. Every healthy child (and most of the sick or disabled ones) MUST participate. This sports day is the biggest event of the school year. Parents and other family members attend (and participate). These events keep getting bigger for primary and then High schools.

Our Annual High School Track and Field Championships have all the color, noise and rowdy fans of an FA Cup final. In short ANY Jamaican born with the potential to be a world Champion at sprint, WILL discover this early and will get all the encouragement and coaching he needs.

Meanwhile Lemaitre did not run competitively or even follow track until 2006. How many other little European boys and girls are born with immense talent, that is never discovered?

Switch sports and you will find that most sprint champions never owned a bicycle in their early years. Meanwhile the cycling champions grew up where everyone rides and kids race bicycles for fun.

meme says:

admin says:

I suspect white advantage in swimming is due to culture. Blacks not having a history of training swimming.

But I did not study the physiology of swimming. Or the evolution of human swimming.

Maybe Blacks are just so superior in other sports, they would rather take up those sports then learning the complex technique of competitive swimming. It is interesting to know that it takes many years to learn swimming, while every normal human knows the basics of running.

But I am open to research, links, and further information about swimming and human races.

Jeff says:

Like or Dislike: 01

You have a tendency to attribute white succes in sports to culture and black succes to genetics. I don’t understand where this is coming from. In many sports there are periods of dominance of people of a certain ‘race’ or even a certain country or even of a certain body type. I suspect that due to the current succes of Bolt, more top sprinters will emerge that are tall and relatively slim. White sprinter Lemaitre is also quite tall. I think the power of cultural selection is often underestimated. If Lemaitre continues to be succesfull, I expect more white sprinters to emerge.

Furthermore, your reply to the lack of black top swimmers (they do exist!), exhibits a lack of understanding of both swimming and sprinting technique. A good sprinting technique is also very difficult to learn. A better argument would be that there is not a lot of money to be earned in swimming and therefore it is more of an elite sport and thus more accesible to whites than blacks. And why would blacks be physically superior in swimming? One could argue that the limb, length ratio and feet size of whites is more favorable in swimming (although even the ideal swimming body has changed over time).

Mungu says:

Like or Dislike: 01

This convo really goofy, but fun.
FYI, I am Black. I did try out for swimming in High School. The Blacks at our school were bused in to the mostly white school. We were discouraged from the swim team and told we should try out for track.

I was astonished the other week by a BBC documentary exploring why blacks dominated sprinting. It was presented by black sprinting legend Michael Johnson. He openly argued that black success was due to African-Americans being bred for power when slaves, and also due to the ‘bottle-neck’ effect caused by the rigours of the trans-atlantic slave crossing. In particular, he argued that the reason for the success of Jamaican athletes was because the most aggressive slaves were dumped there. He had several (black) scientists back his arguments up.

The programme hasn’t been uploaded to YouTube, but here is a reaction :

impossible is nothing says:

Like or Dislike: 00

I personally feel that not only blacks are able to break the 10 second barrier. I feel discriminated when I see icons such as Michael Johnson saying such things. I feel hurt yet angered at him, his biased attitude towards track and field. I know there will be somebody in our lifetime to prove all of them wrong. You just wait. Even if the records doesn’t show it, it doesn’t matter at all. To me, if you put in your very best and all your heart into whatever you do, you will excel well.

HAHAHAHA says:

Some Body says:

Like or Dislike: 00

Fact: up to and including 1928, ALL 100m Olympic medalists were White. White supremacists at the time (prominently including one Adolph Hitler) claimed such facts as these are proof for the overall superiority of the white (some would say: Arian) race over others. Well, today it turns out that by their own lights, Whites are inferior beings.

But, of course, the explanation for the dominance of Whites in speed racing up to the 30s (which wasn’t completely reversed until the 80s) was social, not genetic. So social factors can definitely explain the better performance, even the overwhelmingly better performance, of members of one race over another in various fields.

Now, with running, today, it’s hard to argue against a genetic explanation. Why? Because the social factors go the other way; West-Africans are, if anything, discriminated against, not for, in most social contexts, both national and worldwide. But with Nobel Laureates, the comparison with the White dominance in sprinting from a century ago makes much more sense than the comparison with the Black dominance in sprinting today.

hahahahahaha says:

admin says:

Like or Dislike: 01

I believe that Africans have the greatest genetic variety, from pigmies to Bantus. The differences between different African tribes are quite obvious and striking. Probably had a very long time to develop sub-races (I don’t know if that is the correct term).

But it seems that the development of larger and more complex brains happened in the cold but predictable climates outside Africa.